Turntable recommendation

[telemnemonics]

Cool. Which model? When I looked at new ones 2-3 years ago nothing did that. At least in the plebeian price range I sought. I ended up with a restored 80s Techniques that cost
$150 and sounds and works ace. But the guy who repaired them retired so if it goes south I’ll need replacement.

I bought spares circa Y2K ($20 each) and have 5-6 working turntables.
Was living near a Goodwill in Cambridge MA when all the Yuppies finally gave up on vinyl, about seven years before the hipsters discovered it.
Thinkin I be set for life?
The one set up now is a Technics; SLQD33.

Just looked on ebay and there are pages of used ones, seem to be $30-$300 with $150 getting clean good working examples.
Made in Japan 1980s is reliable if nothing else!
Here is one listing.
Cartridges are all different and could add value.

Technics SL-QD33 Quartz Direct Drive Automatic Turntable w/ Audio Technica PT200 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Technics SL-QD33 Quartz Direct Drive Automatic Turntable w/ Audio Technica PT200 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

 

[aFewGoodTaters]

A couple years ago I was in the market to upgrade my turntable and was working within a similar budget. I went with a Rega Planar 2 and couldn't be happier. Fantastic turntable out of the box. Easy to set up, sounds fantastic, and has a classy and understated look.

 

[Informal]

I have no helpful recommendations.

But I would like to give kudos to anyone old enough to be into vinyl and wanting to upgrade, whose ears weren't fried 30 years ago, and can distinguish the sonic difference between that, and the most horribly mastered cassette.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

There are many old turntables that were much better designed, and executed, and can be purchased in good condition from a shop for less than a new pro-ject debut or planar 1. How expensive they are depends entirely on your location. My pro-ject is ok, but it was just a convenience to buy a new one. Almost every old table I've had has been better in almost every measure of quality.




The one I miss most is good suspension. I think trying to make a decent full featured table today would be really expensive, so they just make primitive tables and pass it off as minimalist "audiophile".

Big and heavy doesn't equate to quality, it just means big, heavy and usually old. Neither does a faux wood enclosure mean much.

No-one ever changes anyone else's mind on the internet. I'm just opining based on nearly 50 years of owning hifi components. Take it or leave it.

 

[kbold]

Pro-Ject and Rega are the first to come to mind for economy and quality.
Music Hall Audio is also worth considering, for a few more shekels. (I was previously looking at Music Hall for a turntable upgrade a few years ago. I overcame my GAS problem, so still spin with a Sony direct drive with genuine plastic plinth. I fitted a Clearaudio stylus to it for an upgrade.)
For more shekels, Clearaudio is worth a look at.

So many brands .... so many models within one brand. Ugh ... it can be overwhelming.
I mean, you can buy a Clearaudio turntable for $1000 ..... or $50,000 ... depending on the model.

 

[Tonetele]

That Marantz is perfectly adequate. i had a perfectly good JVC like that. I have an Audiophile friend with over 6,000 albums and the thing that matters most is the Tubes and the amplifier design in an audio system. Cheers!

 

[bottlenecker]

Big and heavy doesn't equate to quality, it just means big, heavy and usually old. Neither does a faux wood enclosure mean much.

No-one ever changes anyone else's mind on the internet. I'm just opining based on nearly 50 years of owning hifi components. Take it or leave it.

Well, me too. Turntables are things I can make most parts of personally, and things I understand the design of pretty well, and things I use daily. I don't care how much they weigh, or about the aesthetics. I'm basing my opinion on pragmatic things like experiencing how incredibly prone to mechanical feedback new turntables are, how people can actually dance next to old fully suspended tables without making the record skip, the quality of machining on old tone arm parts, the unacceptable quality on some new turntable parts. The stamped steel platter that came on my pro-ject that rings like a bell-the exact opposite of what a platter should be.
And mostly, the sound. New turntables are easier to mod, but they need mods. Someone who just wants to buy a turntable and enjoy it would've had a much better new turntable selection in 1980.

 

[bottlenecker]

I mean, you can buy a Clearaudio turntable for $1000 ..... or $50,000 ... depending on the model.

There was a marantz turntable that was made by clearaudio, if you can find one. I think they may have originally sold for less than they cost to produce.

 

[tubedude]

For decades I used the Thorens TD160 with a Shure V15.
Two years ago I got a Rega Planar 1 with an Ortofon Blue and love it.

P.S. Any table performs only as well as the cartridge alignment. Especially the vertical tracking angle.

 

[notmyusualuserid]

Nostalgia isn't what it was, but you can still buy a new Linn Sondek LP12.

 

[bladeswitcher]

Here's a little story about my Music Hall turntable experience . . . One day, my turntable stopped working. I have no idea why it stopped working, but it did. Honestly, I must have been having a brain fart, because whatever the problem was sorted itself out on its own when I started swapping cords/plugs around.

Anyway, at some point in my investigation I decided to call Music Hall. I called on a Saturday, figuring no body would be there, but maybe I could leave a message and somebody would call me back. The phone rang about five or six times and just about when I think it will kick over to voice mail somebody answers. Turns out it was Roy Hall . . . answering his own phone on a Saturday.

Not sure what that means in terms of a turntable recommendation, but I thought that was cool.

ETA: If you go to Youtube you can find several different interviews with Roy Hall. He imports/brands Music Hall turntables. He's an interesting guy, very candid and charming with his Scottish accent. Entertaining viewing and you'll gain some insight into the turntable industry.

 

[buster poser]

Are there any modern tables with the simple conveniences that old ones had like auto return arms? I am not enough of an audio snob to get into sonic differences between old versus new ones. But I do like the conveniences that were driven by the practical reality that vinyl was how people listened to music in the turntable heyday. Modern tables seem to leave most of those real world features out.

I have always been a bit of a cheapskate on playback gear, but I've tried to find acceptable quality. I've had one of these for ten years, they make them still with some updates, $150 or so.

Reference quality? Obviously not, but sounds good to me into a $90 Fosi amp feeding two no-name bookshelfs and a powered $200 Polk sub. I'm usually listening to music from my computer, but have a small collection of records I throw on occasionally. People who listen a lot more have different needs.

 

[MilwMark]

I bought spares circa Y2K ($20 each) and have 5-6 working turntables.
Was living near a Goodwill in Cambridge MA when all the Yuppies finally gave up on vinyl, about seven years before the hipsters discovered it.
Thinkin I be set for life?
The one set up now is a Technics; SLQD33.

Just looked on ebay and there are pages of used ones, seem to be $30-$300 with $150 getting clean good working examples.
Made in Japan 1980s is reliable if nothing else!
Here is one listing.
Cartridges are all different and could add value.

Technics SL-QD33 Quartz Direct Drive Automatic Turntable w/ Audio Technica PT200 | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Technics SL-QD33 Quartz Direct Drive Automatic Turntable w/ Audio Technica PT200 at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

I do love my Technics. I actually have two. An SL-3200 which is direct drive and an SL-220 which is belt. They otherwise look and work basically identically. The sound equally great to me as well.

 

[telemnemonics]

For decades I used the Thorens TD160 with a Shure V15.
Two years ago I got a Rega Planar 1 with an Ortofon Blue and love it.

P.S. Any table performs only as well as the cartridge alignment. Especially the vertical tracking angle.

Alignment yeah, such a primitive tool, literally over 100 year old tech we still think is the best!

Among my used turntables I have a linear tracking Sony that sounded notably better than all my other turntables when I go it.
Into a Scott Stereomaster 222 and Alison 1 speakers, then mostly for Jazz.
Of course we hear the cartridge not the table but the rig really sounded nice.
A rigid headshell cannot maintain the same angle from start to finish, right?

I forget why I did not set that linear tracker up when I moved, one issue was walking made records skip so I added a post in the basement to stiffen the floor of the house in the area of the stereo and TV.
Fixed that problem!
Also switched to Klipsch KG4, and a lower grade Harman/ Kardon amp. All thrift store stuff.

Funny I asked earlier why the OP wants a new turntable while they have a very nice one already.
Not that I am not a gear hoarder, but there are actual reasons to upgrade, right?

So like "what is the best guitar to buy?", one needs to know why they want a new one, what the old one lacks, what they want more of?

 

[micpoc]

Funny I asked earlier why the OP wants a new turntable while they have a very nice one already.
Not that I am not a gear hoarder, but there are actual reasons to upgrade, right?

OP has the Marantz, not the friend who wants a new one.

 

[telemnemonics]

OP has the Marantz, not the friend who wants a new one.

OP stated:
"The 'friend' is fictitious"

OP asked for:
"prayers"

My read was not literal....
Could have been wrong!
Even so, aside from the $600 price range we still might ask what the shopper seeks?
Blitzy hand rubbed hardwoods?
Space station tech looking tone arm?
Faux vintage looks?
Automatic cueing?
Vibration resistance for the six wilding tots in the house?

 

[Jeru]

Oh I wasnt asking what your need to listen to records was.
Is there a specific need to replace the old turntable?
Just want a second one?
Want to see what new turntable tech has to offer?
Old one is falling apart?
Hoping for less rumble?
Heard that new turntables can manage less weight for less wear on the grooves?
FOMO?
Audiophile cash burning a hole in your pocket?
Writing a revue of old vs new?

Ha -- none of that. I'm good.
Per original post, I'm actually asking on behalf of a friend.
I wrote that this is NOT one of those times where the friend is fictitious.

 

[telemnemonics]

I do love my Technics. I actually have two. An SL-3200 which is direct drive and an SL-220 which is belt. They otherwise look and work basically identically. The sound equally great to me as well.

Of course audiophiles get a pass being disabled and all.
Audiophilia is a medical disability now, right?
Since they all fell for that $500 AC power cord scam and ambulances had to pick up all the audiophiles having coronaries at unboxing events?
Feds stepped in and designated them officially disaster areas and put them all on disability?

Maybe I watch the "wrong" news!

 

[telemnemonics]

Ha -- none of that. I'm good.
Per original post, I'm actually asking on behalf of a friend.
I wrote that this is NOT one of those times where the friend is fictitious.

Oh OK prayers sent!
(for your fictitios friend)

 

[BigDaddyLH]

OP asked for:
"prayers"

Prayers sent! I said a special vertical tracking prayer